Liver Transplantation Trends and Survival in the Asian Population

Studies to address the ethnic minorities in liver transplantation (LT) have focused traditionally on African Americans and Hispanics. Although, the Asian population accounts for 4.4% of the US population, there is limited information on transplantation trends for this ethnic group. The aim of this study was to evaluate the transplantation trends and determine survival patterns of Asian LT recipients. The United Network for Organ Sharing database was reviewed for all Asian adult (>18 years) recipients who underwent LT between 1998 and 2007 (n=1953). The data collected included demographics, diagnosis, survival data, and United Network for Organ Sharing regions. During the study period 1953 Asians received liver transplantation. The most frequent indication for transplantation among Asians was HBV (28.1%) in contrast to the non-Asian group in which HCV (29.6%) was the most common. The 5-yr Patient and graft survival was 76%, 74%, 73%, 65% and 71%, 68%, 67% and 57% for Asian, Hispanic, White and Black respectively. We found (1) regional variation and differences in liver disease pattern among Asian population; and (2) overall LT recipients of Asian ethnicity have a significant survival advantage in comparison to non-Asian groups.